News

NHS graduate earns Fulbright Scholarship

By Margaret Carroll-Bergman

Fulbright Scholar

Lauren Gritzke

I&M Staff Writer

Lauren Gritzke, a 2003 graduate of Nantucket High School and a senior at Wellesley College, has been awarded a United States Department of State Fulbright Scholarship to spend an academic year teaching English in Korea.

Gritzke is the first Nantucket High School graduate to receive the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship while still a student in the program’s 61-year history. Island historian and Nantucket High School graduate Frances Ruley Karttunen, held three Fulbright appointments at universities in Finland as a college professor.

“I’ll be teaching for 20 hours a week and hopefully will volunteer for a nonprofit that works for climate change,” said Gritzke, who will be graduating this May from Wellesley with a dual major in Spanish and international relations with a focus on climate change.
Gritzke grew up in a bilingual household. Her mother, Karen Gritzke, was stationed in Korea with the Peace Corps and speaks Korean and her father, who is Korean, does not speak English. She moved from Los Angeles to Nantucket when she was in the eighth grade.

Gritzke’s grandfather, Warren Gritzke, is a Lutheran minister with an affiliation to the Nantucket Congregational Church. She visited the island often before finally moving here.
“I definitely prefer Nantucket to Los Angeles,” said Gritzke.

“I graduated fourth in my class in high school,” she added. “It was a very competitive year, yet the top students were all best friends.”

Urged on by family and friends, Gritzke also participated in the Junior Miss program.
“I had terrible stage fright and a fear of speaking in public,” said Gritzke. “But I placed in the talent category. It was the first time I performed the piano in public.”

At Nantucket High School, Gritzke was most influenced by Jill Surprenant, foreign language department chairwoman, and Anne Phaneuf, chairwoman of the English Department.

“I had a lot of teachers I liked,” she said.

As with most Nantucket High School students, Gritzke started to work during the summer when she was 14.

“I worked at the Bosun’s Bistro, Murray’s Toggery, the Nantucket Atheneum and Nantucket Ice and many other places,” Gritzke said. “I did not have my first college internship until last summer.”

Gritzke is also under consideration for a Knafel Scholarship, a $25,000 award from Wellesley College to pursue a passion or an interest.

“It’s not to produce a great paper, but to pursue something not necessarily found in books,” said Gritzke.

If she receives the Knafel Scholarship, Gritzke will study the carbon markets of Costa Rica, South Africa, Madagascar, England, Germany and Canada, expanding on her work as a research assistant last summer where she studied the global carbon market. Gritzke explained that international corporations will trade their carbon footprints, which are similar to air pollution permits.

“I can’t be in the same country for more than two months or return to a country after I left it,” said Gritzke of the fellowship.

Gritzke first became interested in studying the environment while at Wellesley.
“I had an amazing professor, Beth DeSombre, who taught a mandatory world politics class,” said Gritzke. “She could make a phone look interesting, so I took as many courses as I could from her. I guess you could say she’s my mentor.”

After spending a year or two abroad, Gritzke plans on attending graduate school.
“I’m interested in law school or graduate work in environmental science at Yale,” said Gritzke.